Monday, September 28, 2009

According to 'The Economist' magazine article 'Zelaya swaps exile for embassy', dated Sept. 24, 2009, "Brazil has, in practice, granted diplomatic asylum to Mr. Zelaya (although its foreigh ministry said he was just a guest). This means that under the terms of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, Mr. Zelaya should abstain from political declarations."

But isn't this exactly what Meloco has been doing everyday since he arrived at the embassy? Yesterday he called on his followers to come to Tegucigalpa for the 'final offensive'. Brazil complains to the UN about harassment of its embassy, but at the same time it is not abiding by its own obligations under the above mentioned international treaty.

While Meloco calls for restituiton to the presidency, I would encourage the Honduran government to impose a condition on Brazil that prior to any future normalization of relations between the two countries, Brazil would be required to pay restituiton and damages to Honduras for the destruction caused by Brazil's involvement in the recent events.

By allowing its embassy to be used as a base for Zelaya's calls for insurrection, many innocent people were harmed. Homes close to the embassy were invaded by Zelaya's thugs, businesses were looted, window were broken, a curfew had to be imposed nationwide (with damages to the national economy estimated at $50,000,000.00 per day), schools were closed so that innocent children were deprived of an education, and the government had to use scarce public resources for security operations close to and around the embassy that could have been used for better purposes.

All of this because Brazil wants to impose a 'caudillo' on Honduras. The Honduran government should tally all of the direct and indirect costs and present a bill to the Brazilian government, and Brazil should not be allowed to have normalized relations with Honduras until the debt is paid. In turn, the Honduran goverment should use the funds to compensate the direct victims of Brazil's complicity with Meloco.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Die-hard supporters of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya are increasingly turning their anger toward the country's wealthy business elite, a small but powerful cadre believed to solidly back the interim government that removed him at gunpoint three months ago.

The capital is now covered with graffiti demanding "Turks out! — apparently a reference to the Central American country's large number of business people of Middle Eastern descent — and on Saturday pro-Zelaya marchers lashed out at the elite's dominance over wealth in a country where millions are poor.

"They own almost the whole country," pro-Zelaya protester Arnoldo Pagoaga, a medical doctor who marched in his white uniform, said Saturday. "They're terrorists. ... They own the army, and sic it on us."

Fellow demonstrator Rafael Alegria complained that Honduras "has a large immigrant community that owns everything: commerce and industry."

"We don't really have our own economy," Alegria said. "We have to set that right."

Now that Comandante Cowboy has shown the world that he is certifiably crazy with his comments to the 'Miami Herald' yesterday with all his talk about mind rays, radiation, and Israeli mercenaries; I came up with a new name for the man in a Stetson- 'Meloco'. Mel + loco (crazy) = Meloco.

What do you think readers? Is this an appropriate name?

I encourage you to read the editorial in the Wash. Post today where even the mainstream media is coming around and recognizing that this guy is not stable.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Now that the curfew has been suspended, my wife will be participating in a peace march in Tegucigalpa today, along with other 'white shirts'. Go girl go!!

I'm just curious to see how much coverage the march gets in the international media. I predict that there will be more participants in this march than in the pro-Zelaya rallies, but that this march will get only very sparse attention in the international media in comparison.

Hmmm... I wonder why. Is there a media bias by chance? Prove me wrong media. Go out there and cover the march so that the rest of the world will know that the majority of Hondurans do not want Mel back, they just wish he would simply disappear...

In an interview with the Miami Herald, Comandante Cowboy asserts that Israelis are torturing him with mind rays and toxic gases. He alleges his throat is sore from toxic gases and "Israeli mercenaries" are torturing him with high-frequency radiation that alter his physical and mental state.

I don't know about his physical state, but his mental state was altered long, long ago.

I just returned to New Orleans Sunday night after spending two lovely weeks with my family in Honduras. I was struck by the graffiti everywhere, on every wall, all over the city. Graffiti was not only on the stucco walls which can easily be painted over, but also on many lovely stone walls which cannot be so easily cleaned or removed. Thus, showing the total lack of respect that Mel's supporters have for private property and their sense of vandalistic compulsions.

What also struck me was the outright racist nature of some of the graffiti towards the local Arab (or 'Turco' population). In many of Comandante Cowboy's speeches he tried to stroke class conflict and hatred by placing the blame for all of Honduras' many problems on the business class. Since much of Honduras' business class is of Arab descent, I assume many of Mel's followers equate this with Mel blessing anti-semitism (yes, Arabs are Semites also), and thus the racist graffiti.

Knowing how the European community has insisted on Mel being restored to power and after seeing the racist graffiti sprayed on the walls, I couldn't help but remember that Adolf Hitler was also democratically elected the chancellor of Germany in the 1930's. Is the world better off since the Germans did not remove a democratically elected politician from power, or would the world have been better off if he had been removed? Of course the question is just rhetorical because we all know the answer.

But maybe people just don't learn from history. The world is insisting on Mel's reinstatement, while at the same time, the graffiti sprayed on the walls of Tegucigalpa show the clear racist sentiments of many of his followers. 'Kristallnacht' anyone?

Monday, September 21, 2009

Zelaya is reportedly in the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa, which is situated on Calle de Republica de Brazil in the Col. Palmira. I recommend avoiding this area because of the potential for violence

I trust the Honduran gov't will immediately suspend diplomatic relations with Brazil and declare their personnel 'persona non grata'. It should also take a page from the US playbook during the US invasion of Panama when it was trying to get Manuel Noreiga to leave the Vatican Embassy. In that situation, the US military surrounded the embassy, played very loud music 24 hours per day, and made life very difficult for those inside. No one can complain if Honduras does the same thing because it is now totally acceptable behavior since this is what that bastion of human rights and democracy, the USA, did...Oh and while they are at it, they should cut off water and electricity too.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

As you are probably aware, the New Orleans area has the largest Honduran population in the USA, so the current events in Honduras are of great interest to Louisiana. Personally, I'm an American citizen married to a Honduran woman and both of my children have dual nationality...

Unfortunately, I believe the Obama administration policy has been very misguided vis-a-vis the situation in Honduras today. The former president (Mel Zelaya) is a power hunger 'caudillo' wannabe who has no respect for democratic institutions including the Supreme Court and the Congress.

He ignored rulings of the court and bills passed by Congress. He encouraged class conflict, and the reputation of his government was one of extreme corruption and ineptitude. Crime was rampant and I had to always fear for my children's safety. (kidnapping for ransom became commonplace under Zelaya's rule, and they recently had begun kidnapping children attending bilingual schools). Poverty increased considerably under his regime while he misused scarce government funds for his own benefit.

While he should not have been exiled, the military was acting under orders of the Supreme Court when they removed him from office. Unfortunately, the Honduran Constitution does not provide for impeachment. Elections are scheduled for November and a new democratically elected president will take office in January 2010.

The current president, Pres. Michiletti, has been cracking down on public corruption and is proving an adept interim leader.

I have not seen or heard of any repression as reported in the international media. To the contrary, things seem very 'normal', and business goes on as usual. In fact, people seem optimistic about their future for the first time in the many years I have been traveling and residing in Honduras. People see the events of June 28 and the beginning of a brighter future for their nation and people.

I trust you will use your good offices to convince Pres. Obama and Sec. of State Clinton to change their current policy regarding Honduras and to embrace the positive changes in Honduras, or at least not to impede them.

If you take the opportunity to discuss this issue with the Honduran population in New Orleans, I'm sure that you will find that the majority shares this view.

Further, I hope and pray that you will use your position in the Senate to take a positive stand for Honduras's future. We do not want Honduras to become a Marxist state allied with Hugo Chavez rampant with corruption and crime. We do not want the return of Mel Zelaya.

I look forward to your response, thoughts and position on this issue which so clearly impacts thousands of New Orleans area residents.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Over the years, the USA has constantly intervened in Honduran and Central American affairs in order to protect its interests without regard for the consequences on the local population. Whether the intervention was to support corrupt dictators, the US marines in Nicaragua, Bananaman Sam in Honduras, support of the overthrow of Arbenz in Guatemala, etc., etc., the US has always behaved as if it could act with impunity and total disregard of human dignity.

Obama promised to be different. He promised an end to US intervention, to let Latins handle their own affairs. Well, he lied...The USA is back to its old ways, trying to intervene in Honduras to impose a corrupt, self-declared Marxist with utter contempt for democratic institutions and norms onto the Honduran people. To make matters worse, in the name of democracy, the USA says it will not recognize a free and fair election in Honduras unless it is overseen by that same corrupt, anti-democratic government led by the discredited 'caudillo' wannabe Zelaya. (Talk about letting the fox guard the hen house.)

Personally, I don't understand the reason. Is it because it sets a bad precedent for a president to be bound by Supreme Court decisions? Does Obama somehow feel uncomfortable about presidential limits imposed by a constitution? Does the concept of 'checks and balances' make him nervous? Or is it simply that he wants Honduras to be a Marxist state allied with Chavez? Does this mean that Obama is a closet Marxist, but just won't admit it to the American people?

The reason really doesn't matter. What does matter is that it is time for Honduras to learn from this, and realize that America is not the friend it claims to be. It's time for Hondurans to understand that America's commitment to democracy is in name only. America likes to spread the perception that it believes in freedom, democracy, and human dignity. Americans like to believe this about themselves and their nation.

The fact of the matter is that this is only a perception... to be blunt, its bullshit. And its time for Hondurans to realize this.

Wednesday, September 09, 2009

The Obama administration is threatening not to recognize the result of Honduras’ presidential election in late November unless Manuel Zelaya returns to the presidency beforehand.

The presidential poll was already scheduled prior to Zelaya’s (constitutional) removal from office last June. The candidates had already been selected by their parties through an open primary process. The current civilian interim president, Roberto Micheletti, is not running for office and plans to step down in January as stipulated by the Constitution. Both major presidential candidates supported the ouster of Zelaya. The political campaign is playing out in an orderly manner, and there’s a significant chance that the candidate from the opposition National Party will win the presidency. The independent Electoral Tribunal is overseeing the process.

And yet the U.S. Department of State is signaling that it won’t recognize the result of the poll in the name of defending Zelaya’s return to power. However, the administration’s defense of ousted leaders seems to have some caveats.

Last July, The Economistreported that Mauritania’s General Muhammad Ould Abdelaziz, the head of the military junta who led the coup that overthrew that country’s first democratically-elected president, got himself elected as civilian president after an election that the opposition called an “elected coup.” However, despite “a certain number of irregularities,” Washington recognizedAbdelaziz’s election as a reflection of the “will of the Mauritanian people” and stated its willingness to work with his government.

Why is it that the election in Mauritania—with its many blatant flaws—passed the Obama administration’s legitimacy litmus test but the one in Honduras already seems set to fail it? What foreign policy principle is the administration applying in Honduras? Certainly not respect for democracy or the rule of law, both of which Zelaya was trying to subvert when he was removed from office.

Tuesday, September 08, 2009

TEGUCIGALPA — Honduras' de facto government attacked deposed President Manual Zelaya on Saturday for wasting six million dollars of public funds on horses, vacations and Harley Davidson motorcycles.

Government officials distributed a lengthy list of what they claimed were Zelaya's pet luxury items, including cash for the upkeep of his horses as well as airline tickets, jewelry, the use of a private helicopter, and his own top-of-the-range motorbike, local media reported.

In an audit of Zelaya's expenses by judicial authorities, the mustachioed leader -- who was ushered out of the country on June 28 in a military-backed coup -- also spent money on expensive wines renting high-end real estate.

"By next week the High Court of Auditors will provide a report on each part of the investigation, and whether a criminal prosecution is appropriate," said Renan Sagastume, the presiding judge for Honduras' Superior Court of Auditors.

Thursday, September 03, 2009

Brazil suspended visa-free travel for Hondurans today. According to the BBC, "by blocking new visas for Hondurans, Brazil hopes 'to promote the immediate restoration of ... Zelaya to the functions to which the Honduran people elected him,' the country's foreign minsitry said in a statement."

What have they been smoking at the Brazilian foreign ministry? The Honduran people elected Mel as a right of center candidate, not as a firebrand socialist. Once Mel knew that his ideology had changed, if he had any ethics, he would have resigned. Mel broke his covenant with the Honduran people.

Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Don Hugo is currently in Libya for a love fest with its great leader, Col. Qaddafi. Together they are celebrating 40 wonderful years of Libyan bliss and good karma under the colonel's altruistic leadership. Taking a few moments for a telephone call to Venezuelan television, Chavez admitted, "Regardless of whether Zelaya returns or not, and really, at this point, that's hard to imagine, Honduras will keep up the fight."

Thanks for the honesty and candor Hugo...

I guess when you say "Honduras will keep up the fight", you mean President Micheletti and the Honduran people will continue to resist the Zelayistas in the OAS.